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R'ku
Area Igen Weyr
Rank Wingleader - Sirocco Wing, former Trader/Bartender
Origin Somewhere near Igen
Dragon Bronze Kabelkath
Played By Antonio Banderas
Player Rakouzo

Description

Wiry and lean, yet with well-defined musculature and slightly broad shoulders, R'ku looks like someone built for speed. Shaggy jet black hair, unruly and wavy, falls to just above his shoulders in a carefree style that frames the broad, square lines of his face. His eyes peer out from beneath thick, dark brows - one of them a vivid sky blue and the other a slightly darker shade of cloud gray, the subtle mismatch of colors more noticeable in some environments than others. A small bump mars the otherwise straight lines of his nose, making it seem slightly crooked. A thin mustache, slightly curled at the tips, follows the contours of his upper lip. Coppery and dark, his skin is smooth and unblemished.
He stands at about 6 foot, 2 inches tall.


Common Knowledge

  • His parents, father especially, are not happy at him accepting Candidacy and even less so that he actually went and Impressed a dragon, no matter that it was a bronze.
  • His morals are often at odds with his family - he is not a normal Tlatoani and doesn't condone shady dealings or intimidation.
  • He'd be well known as a regular former bartender at the Dustbowl cantina, likely for his outgoing, confident attitude.
  • He had a brief stint at attempting to be a champion Sandpit fighter when he was a teenager, though an unfortunate breaking of his nose in a practice bout ended his ambitions. He still likes to watch and speculate on matches, though.

Relationships

  • Rakash - Father, Tlatoani Trader, owner of spice stall in Igen Bazaar
  • Ouza - mother, formerly of dye-making Trader Caravan
  • Rouza - sister (3T younger)
  • Raka - sister (5T younger)
  • Kasha - sister (8T younger)
  • Ouzari - sister (10T younger, twin)
  • Ouzara - sister (10T younger, twin)
  • Zuri - sister, 14T younger
  • Zasha - sister, 17T younger
  • Kora - sister, 20T younger

History

Born as the first child of Rakash, a Tlatoani Trader, and Ouza, a former Trader of a small caravan of dye merchants, Rakouzo arrived as a good omen of a very new union. Fr om a very early age he had the first of many expectations settled on his young shoulders - the expectation of learning the family business. Rakash was a spice merchant, through and through - he gathered rare and exotic spices and herbs from afar, gathering them together to sell in his stall at the Igen Weyr bazaar. Rakouzo helped in this from the beginning - first merely grinding spices and then, as he grew older, more labor-intensive tasks.
But as the turns passed and Ouza only produced daughters and no further sons, Rakash began to settle more expectations on young Rakouzo - the expectation to continue on the family line and traditions. Rakash himself was very modern in his sensibilities and had no qualms with one of his daughters potentially taking over the family business, though in his heart seemed to realize it may be futile due to the fact they may very well marry into another Trader family that was less inclined to keep to one spot. Thus did Rakouzo find himself learning the ins and outs of business and the Tlatoani way of trading.
Rakouzo, it turned out, was extremely adept at being a salesman - complimenting, talking up the wares and being generally outgoing and confident. It was the back-alley dealings, underhanded tactics and general shadiness that he had a problem grasping. Rakash was like a hawk, willing to wheel and deal to get the best deal possible. Rakouzo, on the other hand, hated the unfairness and outright intimidation his father used in his day-to-day business. He especially hated that he was expected to do the same underhanded dealings, if possible, to get the best sales.
Thankfully, though, Rakouzo had a keen mind and did his best to both please his father and not scam the customers. If only his father knew how soft his son really was with business - Rakouzo managed to hide his inner sense of justice and fairness well.
He was less successful at hiding his other major talent - his sense of taste. Growing up amongst spices of all kinds, Rakouzo proved adept at testing and tasting all of the spices and herbs his parents sold and prepared. Not only that, he grew extremely adept at distinguishing the subtlest of flavors and identifying them even when blindfolded. Rakouzo initially used it as a kind of laughable parlor trick amongst his friends, though he soon turned his skill to mixing drinks. With his father's family owning the local cantina, it seemed a natural fit for Rakouzo to navigate towards. Not only that, it removed him from the actual underhanded dealings in his father's spice merchanting business that he secretly opposed so much.
So for the remainder of Rakouzo's adolescence and teenage years, he began with shadowing bartenders at the cantina and eventually graduated to helping out at the cantina in a hands-on way. The rest of his childhood was fairly normal for a child of the Traders - ragtag adventures included.
Once Rakouzo was old enough to be deemed mature enough to consume alcohol, he was given a fulltime position as a bartender at the Dustbowl cantina. It is here that he was honing his skills and making new concoctions, bringing any new idea he had to the bar's owner in hopes that his boss would let him sell it to actual customers. Otherwise, he spent his spare time practicing sleight of hand purely for the amusement of it - he liked wowing people at the bar with tiny tricks to make them smile rather than backhanded movements to trick or deceive.

It wasn't long, though, that Rakouzo's simple bartending life got turned on its head. He found himself Searched for Igen's latest clutch and, without really even thinking of asking his parents' thoughts on the matter, accepted the Candidacy. He found out a bit later that his father, Rakash, was less than pleased about his only son being potentially dragged off forever to be a dragonrider and even his mother was disappointed with him, feeling as though her son was 'leaving her forever'. Despite the guilt being thrown at him aboutt his impulsive decision, Rakouzo opted to remain as a candidate. And, despite what he figured were long odds, he actually Impressed - to a bronze, no less. (Not that the color of the dragon that took his son away did much to assuage Rakash's hurt pride.)

Rakouzo, now R'ku, worked hard through the shortened Weyrlinghood, adjusting as well as can be to life as a dragonrider. There were long nights, lots of formation studying and jokes/laments about dragon poop. There was even a very traumatic event (to R'ku) in which his beloved mustache had to be shaved off and his hair, which was rather long for a man, cropped short. Eventually he and Kabelkath found themselves graduated and tapped into the Whirlwind wing. Always ready for a new challenge, he's embraced his new role as a full rider - and he's extremely happy to have been able to grow back his mustache, finally.


Gallery / Icons

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R'ku has had 80 scenes since creation.